This invention relates to a method and apparatus for sensing the presence of microbes (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, rickettsiae and or other microorganisms) and spores on non-living surfaces, in air and in liquids.
It is of course elementary that all microbial cells produce energy for their cellular activity through respiration. As cellular respiration occurs in living cells, pyridine nucleotides are reduced, flavins are oxidized, and other coenzymes and metabolites are produced. Alternatively, spores are found to be abundant with a calcium dipicolinic acid complex (a fluorescent compound otherwise rare in nature). The oxidation state of pyridine nucleotides, flavins and other cofactors, and/or the presence of calcium dipicolinate, can be simultaneously elucidated by concurrent excitation of each component with the appropriate electromagnetic radiation followed by detection of the characteristic radiation emitted by these individual fluorophores. Simultaneous excitation of a sample with multiple energies characteristic of the excitation for fluorescent cellular and endospore components with the subsequent collection and detection of emitted and reflected/scattered light energies (both associated with and independent of the fluorophores, respectively) is fundamental for the detection of microbes in a sample or on a non-living surface by the method described herein.
The detection of respiring cells in real world samples is made more reliable by the aforementioned method for two reasons. First, the simultaneous excitation of microbes by multiple excitation energies and ensuing coincident detection of numerous fluorescence signals reduces the chance of interference, as the probability of an interference source duplicating the characteristics of numerous fluorophores is extremely small. Second, the relative quantities of the intrinsic metabolites, and thus of the resulting fluorescent signals, have been found to fall within defined physiological ranges. Analysis of the signals is achieved with a method capable of two things: (1) separating the detected fluorescent signals originating from any microbes present from interferences or background signals and or scattered excitation signals, and (2) a requirement that the intensities of the signals from microbial metabolites, microbial components and spore components fall within physiological ranges. Thus, the basis for the detection of microbes in a sample is comprised of the following steps: first, excitation of a sample simultaneously with multiple excitation energies characteristic of cellular metabolites, microbial components, and spore components; second, the subsequent collection of the numerous individual fluorescence signals (associated with the maxima and minima of the emissions of these excited metabolites); and finally, analysis of the collected signals with a method capable of removing background fluorescence and comparing the relative signal magnitudes of metabolites to known physiological ranges.
Long-established technologies and methods used for microbial detection rely upon detection of products resulting from metabolic reactions, immunological capture or the amplification of expected nucleotide sequences. Since this invention employs detection of multiple intrinsic fluorophores from microbes, coupled with an analysis of the relative amount of signals due to these fluorophores, it can not only determine the presence of microbes, but is also capable of differentiating between viable cells, non-viable cells and spores. This method and apparatus uses no reagents, requires no physical contact with the sample, and delivers xe2x80x98real-timexe2x80x99 results.
There are other microbial detection methods that utilize fluorescence. Many of the flow cytometry methodologies rely on the fluorescence of dye molecules conjugated to immunological proteins targeted to the analyte of interest. An example of this can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,285 (to Recktenwald, et al.). Other fluorescence methods use added fluorescent metabolic dyes or dye conjugates (as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,934 to Peeters, et al.).
Some of the fluorescence-based microbe detection methodologies utilize intrinsic cellular fluorophores. One method (U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,959 to Reyes, et al.) simply compares the fluorescence spectra of the sample with a library of spectra. The method described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,910 to Alfano, compares the fluorescence of a sample surface to that of a clean surface. A popular intrinsic fluorophore used in microbial detection methods is the reduced pyridine nucleotide NADH. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,012 to Ho, NADH fluorescence is detected in a forced airstream containing the sample and compared to a blank. Alternatively, the ratio of NADH fluorescence to either the scattered excitation signal or other fluorescence emissions is used in U.S. patents to Powers (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,760,406 and 5,968,766).
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,760,406 and 5,968,766, which issued Jun. 02, 1998 and Oct. 19, 1999, respectively, and which are incorporated herein by reference, there is disclosed a method and apparatus for the detection of microbes on non-living surfaces and samples. The sample to be examined is excited with electromagnetic radiation (1) having a wavelength greater than 350 nm causing the excitation of pyridine nucleotides present in microbial cells, and (2) having a wavelength below 340 nm as a measure of other characteristics of the environment. The ratios of the microbial pyridine nucleotide fluorescence emission (resultant from the excitation at the different wavelengths) to the reflected excitation signals are calculated and compared, as the basis for both the detection and quantitation of microbes present on the sample. This invention is able to locate and quantitate microbes on non-living surfaces, including meats.
Whereas the aforementioned patents to Powers depend upon ratio fluorescence for the detection of a single metabolite, the present invention utilizes excitation of one or more fluorophores coupled with an algorithm that subtracts the detected signals due to the scattered/reflected excitation energies. This difference in design and methodology makes the current invention better able to detect and quantitate microbes on non-living surfaces, in liquids and in air relative to other fluorescence methods. The current invention is superior in its detection of microbes as the detection of multiple intrinsic fluorophores reduces the probability of false positive results due to background interferences. The detection of microbes with the foregoing method and apparatus will have uses in biowarfare agent detection, cell sorting, medical diagnostics, sterilization verification, water quality testing, food production and preparation safety, and emergency response teams tasked with the detection, decontamination and protection of public infrastructure facilities.
With recent announcements of bacterial contamination in foodstuffs (meats, poultry, seafood, juices, fruits and vegetables), there has been a need to provide a method and apparatus that can be used to detect such microbial contamination in foods, on foods and on food preparation surfaces. This method and apparatus, as an object of the invention, should be operated inexpensively and rapidly in, for example, meat and poultry production facilities.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for use in the detection of microbial contamination on foods in which the fluorescence of pyridine nucleotides, flavins and other cofactors and spore components are excited by electromagnetic radiation to distinguish the metabolic reactions and spore components of microbes from the tissue of foodstuffs, allowing microbial contamination on foods to be determined without contact with said food.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus that can be used in the detection of microbial contamination on non-living surfaces, in liquids and air. As a specific object of the invention, the method and apparatus can be used to find microbes and microbial contamination inexpensively and rapidly in, for example, health-care facilities, research laboratories, water treatment and testing stations, public buildings and on the battlefield.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for use in the detection of microbial contamination on non-living surfaces and in liquid and air samples in which the fluorescence of pyridine nucleotides, flavins and other cofactors and spore components are excited by electromagnetic radiation to distinguish the metabolic reactions of microbes and/or presence of spores from the background of the media or scattering, allowing microbial contamination in samples to be determined without contact with said sample.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for use in the differentiation between viable cells, non-viable cells, spores and non-contaminated samples in which the fluorescence of pyridine nucleotides, flavins and other cofactors and spore components are excited by electromagnetic radiation with the differences in the relative quantities of the intrinsic fluorophores in each used to distinguish the presence of microbes from the background of the media or scattering.
The concepts of the present invention reside in a method and apparatus for the detection of microbes in which samples are exposed to electromagnetic radiation of numerous specific energies capable of exciting fluorescence from various metabolites, cofactors and cellular and spore components. Thus, the microbial cells and spores to be sampled (and more specifically the excited metabolites, cofactors and/or other cellular, viral and/or spore components) contained therein emit fluorescence that can be measured. The collected fluorescence signals (associated with the minima and/or maxima of the signals emitted from the cellular/viral/spore components) are analyzed with a method capable of (1) removing any background or reflected/scattered excitation signal, and (2) comparing the relative fluorescent signals of metabolites, cofactors and spore components to known physiological ranges.
Thus, the method and apparatus of the present invention provides an inexpensive and rapid way in which to scan samples to detect and quantitate the presence of microbial contamination without contact with the sample. Being able to evaluate microbial contamination in a sample without contact reduces the risk of introducing contamination.
In accordance with this form of the invention, it is frequently desirable to utilize light source(s) emitting electromagnetic radiation above 200 nm. In accordance with the present form of the invention, the light emitted by the light source is specific to or filtered to pass there through electromagnetic radiation of energies specific to excite pyridine nucleotides, flavins, porphyrins, cofactors and/or calcium dipicolinate.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, it is possible, and sometimes desirable, to direct electromagnetic radiation of ultraviolet energies (wavelengths between 200 and 300 nm) at the sample. The ultraviolet light excites aromatic amino acids and nucleic acids, some of whose emission is self-absorbed by the sample sequentially exciting calcium dipicolinate and pyridine nucleotides, some of whose emission is self-absorbed by the sample in turn exciting cofactors (e.g., flavins), part of whose emission is used to excite porphyrins and other flavins. The fluorescent emissions of the sample are collected and analyzed as described previously. The use of ultraviolet light results in a relatively shallow sampling penetration depth of a sample.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, it is possible, and sometimes desirable, to direct electromagnetic radiation of energies capable of exciting specific metabolites, cofactors and cellular/spore components and also energies that do not interact with the microbes. Thus, in accordance with this embodiment of the invention, the resulting fluorescent signal emanating from the sample (both from the microbial components and those simply reflected/scattered from the sample) can be measured and the presence of microbes determined by comparing the ratios of the emitted signals from the microbes compared to those reflected/scattered from the sample.
In accordance with the practice of the invention, a sensor is used to detect not only the fluorescence generated by the intrinsic fluorophores but also to detect the reflected or scattered electromagnetic radiation. This serves to normalize the signal and compensate for variations in the signal that might otherwise be caused by the use of varying distances between a probe and the sample being scanned and variations between different samples or surfaces.
It has also been found that by rapidly changing the electromagnetic radiation directed to the sample at frequencies different than 60 Hertz, the effects of ambient light (and particularly fluorescent light) can be substantially minimized. The modulation of the excitation energy also permits the sensor to be moved to direct the electromagnetic radiation to various parts of a sample without substantially affecting the accuracy of the measurement of the microbial content.
Most commercially available microbe detectors rely on the growth of microbial cultures to obtain sufficiently large samples (outgrowth) for the subsequent application of differential metabolic tests for species (genus) identification. However, techniques requiring bacterial outgrowth may fail to detect viable but nonculturable cells. Conversely, the growth media employed may favor the growth of bacteria with specific phenotypes.
Other approaches to microbial detection depend upon the immunological capture of either the microbes themselves or their components. The most popular immunoassay method, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), has a best detection limit of several hundred cells. (This is well below the ID50 of extremely infectious bacteria such as Shigella flexneri.) These techniques likewise involve significant problems because the antibodies employed are very sensitive to variations in pH, ionic strength and temperature. Antibodies directed to microbial components not only are relatively expensive to develop and produce, but are also susceptible to degradation by a host of proteolytic enzymes in xe2x80x98dirtyxe2x80x99 samples. In addition, the density of antibody molecules supported on surfaces (e.g., microwell plates or magnetic beads) is not as high as is frequently necessary.
More sensitive but less rapid typing schemes utilize the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for amplification of bacterial DNA or RNA, followed by nucleic acid sequencing to detect the presence of a particular bacterial species. Such general amplification and sequencing techniques require technical expertise and are not easily adaptable outside of specialized laboratory conditions. PCR-based techniques utilize the inference of microbial presence, since these techniques provide only a positive analysis for an intact target nucleic acid sequences, not necessarily microbes. Moreover, the detection of specific microorganisms in environmental samples is made difficult by the presence of materials that interfere with the effectual amplification of target DNA in xe2x80x98dirtyxe2x80x99 or real-world samples.
Mass spectral analysis of volatile cell components (e.g., fatty acids) after sample lysis or pyrolysis has been used for the detection of bacteria and viruses. Unfortunately, identification of the analyte is unreliable as the compositions of a microbe""s volatile components change depending upon different environmental growth conditions.
Immunological, mass spectral and PCR-based methods are all unable to ascertain if microbes in the sample were viable. Immunological and PCR-based methods both use relatively expensive reagents that require special handling. The microbial detection method and apparatus described herein is able to determine the viability of detected bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and rickettsiae. The method and apparatus requires no reagents, no contact with the sample, inexpensive to perform and delivers xe2x80x98real-timexe2x80x99 results. These, and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon review of the following detailed descriptions of the disclosed embodiments and the appended claims.